Unwanted
by MrsWhovian
Summary: Everyone seems to be disappearing from Dom's life at the same time. He's never felt so unwanted. Spoilers for episodes up to "The Wrong Horse".


Dom watched as Lofty walked away, letting the tears fall. He knew that he hadn't been particularly talkative with his husband while they had been apart, but that didn't give him an excuse to cheat. A large sob erupted from deep inside him, as the betrayal hit him again, and again. Lofty was supposed to be stable, and reliable, and dependable. Lofty was the kind of person that Dom was trying to become; he was trying to better himself _for _his husband. But now Lofty had done what Dom had never believed him capable of; cheating.

As he felt the immediate urge to curl up in a ball on the stairs and cry, subside, he slowly headed back inside, planning to grab his bag and leave. He had technically finished his shift, and although there were a few more things he could do, he could realistically hand it over to somebody else. Unfortunately, the only person he saw upon arriving back on the ward, was Ange. Making his decision, he walked purposefully over to her, pretending not to notice the concern on her face when she noticed the evidence of Dom's tears.

"I need you to do the final post-op checks on our patient," Dom said steadily. "I need to go home."

Ange nodded, taking the files that he offered her.

"Dom," she said softly, glancing around her, "I'm sorry if I seemed harsh earlier on, but I just wanted you to see how lucky you are to have such a strong support system, and…"

But she stopped talking when Dom's focus shifted to a spot just over her shoulder. Turning around, she saw Lofty walking towards them.

"Dom," Lofty whispered, "Please, can we talk?"

"No."

Ange frowned. "What's happened?" she asked.

Dom laughed drily. "I thought you 'aren't my new mum'?" he asked, quoting their earlier conversation that they'd had. "So just leave me alone. And you," he continued, looking at Lofty, "Find somewhere else to stay tonight."

With that, he stormed past them both and left, only stopping to grab his bag out of the locker room.

* * *

About an hour later, Ange was clearing up her office, and was just about to leave, when Carole appeared at her door.

"Hi Carole," Ange said, trying to force a smile on her face. "What can I do for you?"

"Well," Carole started nervously, "I just wondered if Dom seemed okay to you at the moment?"

"He's not been one hundred percent," Ange said vaguely. "I think I upset him earlier; he's been trying to get this whole family unit going with me, him and Chloe, and it's affecting Chloe quite badly. I need to focus on Chloe right now, and I've told him that he's lucky; he already has a family with you, and Barry, and Lofty."

Carole closed her eyes, suddenly starting to cry. Surprised, Ange pulled Carole in, sat her on the sofa and closed the door.

"What's happened?" asked Ange. "Is he still not talking to you?"

"I don't think he has a choice anymore," Carole admitted. "Barry has been so angry that Dazzle has turned his back on me, in particular. They've never really been close, so Barry is all for him burning his bridges, but up until now he could put up with him. But now, he's said that Dom has no right to treat me like this and still expect to 'run back to us whenever it takes his fancy'. His words, not mine. He rang Dazzle last night and told him that he wasn't welcome in our home anymore."

Ange felt her mouth drop open in horror. "How can you allow him to make that decision for you?"

"Because he's my husband!" Carole cried. "He's just trying to look after me! I'm sure that if Dom comes and apologises, Barry will change his mind, but he can't be convinced right now. And, right now, Dom won't talk to me. If I keep pushing him, and go against Barry, I'll lose my husband as well as my son, and what will I have then?"

"You'll have a clear conscience!" Ange argued. "You can't just turn your back on him to make the rest of your lives easier!"

Carole fixed her with a steady stare. "Isn't that exactly what you've done?" she asked calmly, before standing up and walking out, leaving Ange with the stark realisation that she had just ripped into Carole for doing exactly what she had just done.

* * *

Dom sat on the floor in his living room, his knees pulled up to his chest as he contemplated the last twenty four hours. Carole had rejected him (well, Barry, really, but she hadn't exactly argued the case), then Ange rejected him, and then Lofty betrayed him. What did he have left? Who did he have left? Who was there now to notice if he didn't turn up to work tomorrow? Would they think he was just avoiding everyone, or would someone actually take the time to find out?

A knock at the door broke him from his thoughts. He thought about ignoring it, but his thoughts were getting dangerously negative, and he knew that, really, it wasn't a good idea for him to be on his own right now. As the person at the door knocked again, he reluctantly got up and opened the door, only to roll his eyes and walk away when he saw it was Ange stood on the other side.

Ange followed him into his living room, and watched, heartbroken, as she saw her son fall apart in front of her. As his body started to crumple, she didn't hesitate in wrapping her arms around him, and guiding him to his sofa. She held still as he sobbed against her, his arms wrapped around her, clutching onto her back.

Ange didn't dare speak as Dom tried to compose himself, in case he suddenly realised that she was still holding him, until he pulled back and looked her in the eye.

"Why did you tell me?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

Ange watched as Dom tried to put his thoughts into order.

"Carole didn't recognise you; she told me this. Why did you tell her who you were and force her into telling me the truth? Ever since the truth has come out things have got worse. If you wanted me to know eventually, you could have spoken to Chloe first, got all her issues sorted out, and then approached Carole. Instead, you force her to tell me this earth-shattering news as I'm walking into work, then I find out it's you. Then you say that Chloe has no idea, and you need time to tell her. You then flip between wanting a relationship with me, and wanting me to keep my distance so Chloe doesn't find out before you want her to. Then she does find out, and today, in the space of twelve hours, you go from 'At least one child is talking to me', to 'I'm not your new mum'! What do you want from me?"

"I don't know," Ange said ashamedly.

"Well, while you've been trying to figure it out, my adoptive parents have as good as disowned me, and my _husband _cheated on me while he was on holiday, as my life was being turned upside down!"

"Lofty cheated on you?" Ange asked in shock.

"Yes, apparently I wasn't showing him enough love and attention during our phone calls. And maybe I wasn't; but did that give him the right to just jump into bed with somebody else?"

"No, it didn't."

Dom got up. Pacing the floor, he tried to calm down, but the rage just bubbled up inside him, and he exploded.

"You have actually ruined my life!" he shouted. "I know it sounds very much like a teenager throwing a tantrum, but you have taken everyone away from me! Maybe my relationship with Barry and Carole was a bit dysfunctional, but at least there was a relationship! But with this bombshell, I've taken it out on them, and now I'm banished from talking to them! I had a loving relationship with my husband, but because I was dealing with all of this while he was away, he thought I didn't love him anymore! Without even noticing, I pushed him into somebody else's arms! I pushed you and Chloe into a relationship you weren't ready for, because the rest of my relationships were breaking down, but I pushed you too hard, and now you don't want anything to do with me too!"

"Dom, listen," Ange started, but Dom shook his head, running his hands over his face as his pacing got faster.

"No, I know what you're about to say, and you're right. It isn't your fault at all! The common denominator is me! Maybe there is something so fundamentally wrong with me that everyone in my life has realised that their lives will be better, and calmer, and less dramatic, without me, and it's just been bad luck that everyone realised it at the same time! Or, not bad luck, maybe I've just been that unbearable over the last couple of months that I've just pushed everybody over the edge! You should just go, before I poison anything else in your life."

With that, Ange watched as Dom opened the front door, before disappearing into, what she could only assume was, his bedroom. As the bedroom door closed behind him, Ange stood up to leave, but paused as she heard him quietly crying. Making her decision, she walked over to the front door. What could she actually do to help him now?

* * *

As Dom heard the front door close, he curled up tighter on his bed as he let the full force of emotions out. His whole body shook, and the tears just kept coming, his cries getting louder and louder. He was so lost in the hurt, and loneliness that he felt, he didn't hear his bedroom door opening, or quiet footsteps approaching his bed behind him. He didn't feel a dip on Lofty's side of the bed, and didn't register, to begin with, someone moving behind him, pressing themselves against his back, one hand softly rubbing from his shoulder, down to his wrist, and back up again. He only registered an additional presence when words spoken with a soft, Scottish accent, were whispered into his ear.

"None of this is your fault," Ange said. "I pushed all of this on you. I do want to be your mum, I honestly do. I've just never had to do what's best for two children before. This is a learning curve for me; a steep one. And I know I'm not doing very well. But I shouldn't be pushing you away to make my own life easier. I have told you that I have loved you from the moment you were born, and I know I haven't shown you this, and that is on me; not you."

They lay in silence as Dom processed what his birth mother had said, and as he felt himself calming down, he rolled over onto his back, seeing Ange out of the corner of his eye. Not ready to acknowledge her properly yet, he looked straight up at the ceiling, as he let out a long breath.

"It doesn't change anything, does it?" he asked. Sensing that she didn't quite understand, he continued. "Chloe is still struggling. That isn't going to go away, and while I'm in your life, she isn't going to get better, and you're going to realise this every time you see me and her in the same vicinity."

"Maybe so," she acquiesced, "But you're struggling too, and I mustn't keep putting Chloe's needs above your own. You're right; I brought all this into your life, and I should have thought about how this would affect you, rather than just being fuelled by my own desperate need to get to know you. But I've done the damage now, and I need to help you through it, just as I'm trying to help Chloe through it. Is that okay with you?"

Dom nodded, as he started to cry again, he rolled over to face Ange, and she didn't hesitate in gathering him up into her arms, his head resting near her neck, and her arms holding him tightly against her.

"Do you need to leave?" Dom asked quietly, already preparing for her to walk out again.

"No," Ange replied, pressing a kiss to the top of his head, feeling his breaths start to even out as he drifted off to sleep. "There's nowhere else I'd rather be."

* * *

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed this – it ended up being a lot longer than I expected – 2000 words, really?! I got the idea for this when Ange rejecting him and Lofty's cheating happened in one episode, and I wondered what would happen if his relationship with Barry and Carole completely dissolved too? Please review, and bonus points for anyone who spots a sneaky partial Holby quote from an old episode!**


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